This week made me say...

Pardon? Our local chemist now delivers prescriptions to our village pub for us to collect if we want! Very useful - the pub is less than 2 minutes walk from us.

Eeek! The high winds this week were scary - they whipped up our gas barbecue which broke two of our roof ridge tiles! Thankfully the tiles were spares, on the floor - and the barbecue and gas bottle weren't damaged.

Mmm... I bought some mini fizzing bath melts from Etsy seller
mmmmhandmadesoap - so cute - a fab and affordable gift!

A day at the Fair

Last Saturday I had a stall at a local Craft Fair, and we had a great day!

It's a well-established event - well organised and attended, with over 100 stalls.

My eldest DD came along to help, and was very keen to run the stall by herself whilst I went off to browse the other stalls. She did very well too! We made quite a few sales, which is really encouraging.

The necklace display stands from Boo's Jewellery templates worked really well. I learned a few more lessons too:

• My items need more labels - a pull-on cowl is obvious to me as I made it but I had lots of people asking what it was
• I need to get a better-looking piece of fabric to cover the table with - I may invest in a length of black velvet for the next fair
• My own invention of the hand display stands for my fingerless gloves worked well
• Using our bathroom cabinet without the drawers worked well to add height
• Some kind of backdrop would help to focus attention on the items on the table rather than whatever is behind it.

More thinking to do for the next one then...

Winter weddings

Tada! Here's my latest addition to my Etsy shop - and it made me very happy to make them!

Not that I'm going to a winter wedding or even know any winter brides to give them to. I just really enjoyed making them.

The Sublime Angora Merino yarn is just that - sublime to touch. I adore this stitch pattern and they are a quick knit.

I spent quite a while handsewing on the 130 glass seed beads but, strangely enough for me, I enjoyed doing that too!

I even liked staging the photographs as I had remembered that I still have my own wedding outfit pieces. I found them out, fondly looked through them, and decided to use my veil as the background. Quite romantic I think!

Alison from AMIDesigns must have been thinking along the same lines as she has just listed this beautiful bracelet too.

Gorgeous!

A November Sunset

I was very happy to receive a message on Etsy from Caitlin tonight saying that she has included me in her treasury - A November Sunset - yay!

It is a beautiful selection; those colours are gorgeous and perfect for this time of year. Dark, rich, warm, and comforting.

Caitlin has very kindly included my Regal Bounty hand-dyed laceweight merino yarn.

You may want to take a look at Caitlin's shop too - she has some absolutely gorgeous crochet snowflakes for sale.

Thanks Caitlin!

The high..

The last few days have been quite a rollercoaster, starting with a high on Saturday - literally, terrifyingly high!

We went out to a huge local indoor play area as the weather wasn't very good and the kids needed to burn off some energy. Whilst there I was being nagged by our daughters (as usual) to try out the death drop slide (a vertical drop to start with, then a curve to slow you down at the bottom) which they go on regularly. I decided I would give it a go - despite being absolutely terrified of falling from heights all my life.

I went to the top of the lowest slide - about 36 feet up with a bump in the middle so it's not so bad - with my two DDs. That may not seem much for most people but I get electric shocks through my hands and feet even thinking of going up high or looking at high-up scenes on the TV!

I sat at the top and could barely get my legs over as I was so terrified. Youngest DD went down the slide and waited at the bottom with DH, and eldest DD sat with me at the top. My whole body was shaking with fear and according to DH I was hyperventilating - visible to him on the ground!

Eventually I forced my body to work, started babbling to myself about it being safe etc, and lurched forward.

I have no recollection of going down as it was so fast, but when I got to the bottom I lay there and started to cry! I had done it! I never in my life thought I would be able to do that.

My family were so happy for me, hugging, laughing etc, whilst I wiped away my tears. I had to wait for a few minutes to calm down - I was still shaking so much I couldn't hold my coffee without spilling it!

The other adults in the place must have thought I was insane, but I don't care. I did it!

Sock disaster

Warning sock knitters....

If you are of a nervous disposition, avert your eyes now - graphic scenes of sock disaster coming up...

There - I told you it was nasty didn't I?

The most enormous hole in my beloved Tidal Wave cashmere socks in place of where the heel was when I put them on - and the same in the other one too!

This calls for some serious investigation into repairs.. watch this space..

Wedgewood Blue

I love wedgewood blue plates. They remind me of being at my grandmother's house when I was a child. The colours of my latest Etsy listing remind me of that plate!

I handknitted this scarf from 3 balls of variegated blue cotton yarn. That's all I had of it in my stash and I wanted to make something special with it.

I chose a lovely eyelet ripple pattern which highlighted the colour changes without giving solid stripes.

The eyelets meant I could thread ribbons through easily too. I took the scarf with me to my local haberdashery and got the perfect matching shades.

It took me ages to get around to threading the ribbons! I never quite felt like doing it, but once I did it hardly took any time at all.

I love the finished look. What do you think?